Journal of Voyages: Containing an Account of the Author's being Twice Captured by the English and Once by Gibbs the Pirate...Dunham, Jacob
History
Journal of Voyages: Containing an Account of the Author's being Twice Captured by the English and Once by Gibbs the Pirate...
Dunham, Jacob
Voyages and travels
After the young ladies were all seated in the house, my friend Patterson
introduced me to them, and requested me to fill some glasses with gin
and pass them round, saying, "They had never drank any gin before, and
did not know the strength of it, that we should soon see sport." After
remaining some time and drinking freely, they attempted to depart, when
one of them, named Betsey Young, a girl possessing a pleasant and
beautiful countenance found herself unable to walk, and her comrades
took her on their backs and departed apparently much mortified as I was
myself. After they returned to their homes Betsey's mother gave her a
severe reprimand for her intoxication. The next morning she bent the top
of a small tree to the ground, tied a handkerchief to it and putting one
end round her neck let the tree straighten up, which hung her in the
air. Soon after her mother discovering her unfortunate situation cut
her down and restored her to life. A few months after she became one of
the king's wives.
I was visited by a respectable Frenchman, named Ellis, residing thirty
miles up a river called Waa-waa-han, which empties into the Lagoon a few
miles from this place. The Musquito king had given him a tract of land
seven miles in length, bounded on the river, a well cultivated
plantation, producing coffee, sugar-cane, corn, yams, sweet potatoes,
all kinds of tropical fruits, and bread-stuffs in abundance. He owned
twenty or thirty slaves, and cultivated a good garden. He informed me
that he had fought for my country in the Revolution, under Count de
Grass. His nearest neighbor, named Gough, resided twelve miles from him,
who had a grant of land extending twelve miles along the river, and
owned a few slaves, but paid little attention to cultivation. I found
Mr. Ellis a very honest man, and a true friend to me. He kept a mulatto
woman as his wife, whose name was Fanny. He sent many orders to me to
bring out such articles as he wanted. He told me that one evening he was
making out an order for goods and asked his wife if she wanted any thing
added to the order. She answered by saying, "Tell Captain Dunham to
fetch me out one man-goose and one woman-goose." Mr. Ellis often sent me
garden vegetables, cucumbers, water-mellons, tropical fruits, &c.
CHAPTER VI.
Among my new neighbors I found eight runaway negro slaves who had
deserted from the Island of St. Andreas, in canoes, a distance of about
two degrees, and took refuge here. To make the reader understand the
tragic scenes that follow, I shall describe them by giving the names of
the tribes they belonged to in their native country. Two of them being
called Jim, I shall be obliged to attach to the name of each that of the
tribe to which he belonged, to distinguish the parties.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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